JD.com Inc. promoted Lei Xu to chief executive officer, succeeding Richard Liu. Xu, who most recently served as president at the Chinese tech and online retail company and thus already led its operations, will also join its board of directors. Liu founded JD.com in 2004. He will remain chairman of the board and help shape JD.com’s long-term strategy in that role. Xu will assume leadership of the company effective immediately. He has been with the company for more than a decade.
Xu’s appointment occurs at a time when JD.com is struggling with slowing growth as competition increases and consumer spending declines in the face of tighter regulations in China targeting e-commerce platforms. The company has been cutting jobs recently and expanded layoffs in March to cut costs.
